Humanism
was an intellectual movement which first emerged in Italy and France in
the 14th and 15th centuries. The Renaissance "humanists" was a group made
up of practicing Catholic scholars and artists who were the cultural
leaders of the Renaissance. Their two main concerns were philology (the
science of the meaning and history of words) and history. Their belief
in religion and it's role was also conflicting with it's time.

The Renaissance Humanists believed that the civilizations of Rome
and Greece should be models for their current civilizations. To achieve
and surpass this example, they felt people should appreciate classical
times. Their goal was to recover some of the artistry, skill, and pride
of the ancient Greeks and Romans, to replicate their successes, and go
beyond them.

By focusing on the human race and its capacities they argued they were
worshipping God more suitably than traditional dispirited priests and monks
who overemphasize and dwelled on sin and confession. They preached that
the proper worship of God involved the admiration and awareness of his
creation of humans.

Some Renaissance Humanists even claimed that humans were not only in God's
image, but that humans were like God but with only a fraction of his creative
power. Some believed that by using one's intellectual powers, an ordinary
person could fulfill his divine purpose.

Although humanist thought was mixed with Renaissance components such as
superstition, the focus and accent on the importance of human capacity
left Europeans a powerful legacy. The blended concern for the history and
actions of human beings with religious matters supported things such as
literature and philosophy and promoted it's result of better understanding
of the problems with humanity.

Renaissance Humanism led directly into the thinking of the Enlightenment.